


Beastly

by midnightfiction (infernalmidnight)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, F/M, Future Mpreg, Kingdoms, M/M, Magic, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:20:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26575897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infernalmidnight/pseuds/midnightfiction
Summary: A world where magic courses through most everyday life but there are those, the werecreatures, that are just trying to survive and fight against their extinction. An unlikely and unfathomable pairing of fateds brings Hinata, a werecreature in a class of his own, into a situation he never thought possible and left fighting for a situation he long thought hopeless.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Hinata Shouyou, Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma, Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Bokuto Koutarou/Hinata Shouyou, Bokuto Koutarou/Kozume Kenma, Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma, Hinata Shouyou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Iwaizumi Hajime/Kageyama Tobio/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Michimiya Yui/Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Tsukishima Kei/Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 9
Kudos: 119





	1. Moonlight Meetings

It was as easy as breathing when Hinata felt the invisible pull to the none the wiser sleeping man below him. He was beautiful to say the least. The delicate strands of soft gold brushed over his angled cheek bones and caught on the long curls of his lashes. The smooth unblemished skin. Sure the circumstance for him being straddled above him with a dagger to his throat was rather compromising, but the pull was enough to give a pause and take in the sight.

His luminous amber eyes caught like embers in the moonlight as he stared down, contemplating. He had never failed at a job requested of him and now should be no different. The person below him was dangerous; the strategist that was about to claim lives from the confines of a castle. He had power that others feared and wanted gone to even the playing fields. 

Hinata didn’t care much for politics. They had never been his forte by any means, but he was skilled in stealth and ability of completion of a job with very few questions asked. Not that he had the luxury of questions, given his technical status in most of the kingdoms.

And a simple thing as  _ fate _ was  _ not _ about to keep him from finishing his job. Others get their fated; Hinata didn’t have the option. Kill and move on. That was the essence of his life. 

So why? Why?  _ Why _ was this infuriating man below him ruining what little he could claim to have. All while laying limp, asleep, and defenseless against the blade to his throat.

“Drop it,” a silky voice whispered behind him and Hinata’s being stilled. Heart stopped, lungs hitched, mind gone blank.

He was ruined. Utterly. Fate was a bitch for getting him in the situation, he decided. On any other job he would have already move on and even if on the slimmest of possibilities he hadn’t, he definitely would have heard the door, the footsteps, the breath and heart beat; hell as least have  _ felt _ the fucking  _ sword _ currently tipped against the back of his neck before the person had spoken.

“I can’t do that,” was the only thing his fumbling mind could come up with _. Seriously, ruin your reputation more _ , he thought with a mental kick.

The prick of the steel against his neck also agreed it was stupid.

“I had heard whispers there might be an attack,” the man opted instead. Both knew neither could afford to move from their position. The dagger to the delicate neck below him was keeping Hinata alive from the sword behind him. And the sword kept the sleeping man alive. Not that the unseen man needed to know that Hinata was already hesitant about taking the blonde’s life.

“You’re quite skilled,” the voice acknowledged, “I only knew to keep checking the room because your employers were sloppy.” 

_ That _ made Hinata scowl. The one thing he could never control when it came to jobs was how his employers acted. Most knew not to draw attention for they knew his reputation and were not desiring to be on the receiving end. But some were stupid and made jobs more complicated than they ever needed to be. 

_ Stupid humans _ .

“Kuro.” The sudden soft voice caught Hinata’s attention immediately. He hadn’t noticed the man- Kenma - below him awaken. This night really was shit. “Wait.”

The order confused him, but the moment the bright golden eyes locked with his he understood. He was absolutely, royally fucked. The dagger in his hand wavered as Kenma’s hand slowly reached and traced the four symbols on the inside of his forearm. The third one, small scales of justice lit a soft honey glow when his fingers ghosted over the fair skin.

Hinata’s breath hitched, and he wasn’t the only one in the room to do so.

“It’s been years,” Kenma murmured, the daggered angled at him completely forgotten. Not that Hinata could blame him, everything else besides the fading glow of the scales seemed meaningless. 

And when the sword clattered to the ground and the mysterious third person, Kuro, appeared next to the ginger, neither of them seemed to process it. And when the much larger, but still delicate fingertips made contact with the second symbol of an hour glass and it gave off the same honey glow Hinata finally gathered his bearings again.

This shit was definitely  _ not _ happening. Not here. Not now. Not  **ever.**

“Fuck.” The singular word seemed to snap everyone out of their fairy tail romance. “Shit.”  _ Intelligent _ .

The dagger fell from his hand as Hinata quickly launched himself from the decadent bed and back towards the balcony he had come from.

“Wait!” Kuroo called after him. 

_ Wait? Wait!?  _ He honestly thought for Hinata to wait? The person who had just snuck in to assassinate someone? Fuck no. The warm gooey feeling would vanish soon enough and he was not about to wait around for the rose colored glasses to fall off and be at the sward’s end again. The past few minutes he might have acted like an idiot, but he was not stupid. Contrary to current situations.

In the next split second Hinata had launched himself over the balcony and plummeted. He felt content at the familiar sensation of his bones shifting and skin changing. The drop was easy in the body as the air curled over his red spotted, strawberry fur. And the satisfying thud below his paws also wasn’t bad either.

* * *

“Fuck!” Kuroo shouted as he slammed the door open to their main bedroom.  _ He was right there! _ He berated himself as he collapsed on the excessively large plush bed.

The shift in weight confirmed that Kenma had in fact followed him in his fit of anger after watching their lost fated literally  _ launch himself off of the third floor balcony _ . Kuroo had prepared for an assassin, not fucking that!

“Testurou?” Bokuto grumbled into his pillow. Sure he was joked about looking like an owl, but he did not like being woken up at night. 

“Bo!” Kuroo practically whined at his muffled name. “He was here!” 

When all he got in response was more grumbles he huffed.

“The assassin?” Thankfully, Akaashi was awake and played along with his whaling. 

“No,” he started, “well yes, but that doesn’t matter now cause it was him! Our fifth! He was  _ here. _ I  _ saw him _ . And now he’s  _ gone!” _ Kuroo practically cried again. 

Among his dramatics he failed to notice the sudden stillness of the other two. Bokuto was very much awake now and he and Akaashi were now giving Kenma their undying attention in hopes of explanation.

“He was the assassin,” Kenma began. “He was good too, if Kuroo had been so insistent on guarding my private room I would have been dead if he hadn’t been ours. I didn’t even wake up till I heard talking.” It had honestly been eerie how silent the boy moved and how little presence he could have. “I think he stopped when he felt the connection, even without seeing the mark.” Kenma could only imagine the conflicting emotions. It wasn’t easy to go against one of your fated with actual intent to maim or kill.

“What was he like?” Bokuto asked with intrigue.

“He was…” Kenma could only think of the image of the fiery eye boy hovering over him with the dagger held in his hand as if an extension of his being, “deathly beautiful,” was what he settled on.

“Where’d he go?” Akaashi finally asked. It wasn’t easy to get past either Kuroo or Kenma and the former’s lamenting over their fifth’s disappearance wasn’t much to go off of. 

“The balcony,” Kenma supplied. “I’m guessing some type of magic. Neither of us saw him when he reached the ground. But he also wasn't dead there so…” he shifted his eyes to a still rather upset and frustrated Kuroo. No matter how composed and sly he appears to others, there was no getting over the fact he could be a big idiot at times. 

“He left?” Bokuto asked, deflating at the thought.

The four of them had been looking for their fifth for years now. It wasn’t easy finding your fated in the world, rather rare really and the more you have the harder it was. Groups of threes were common; fours a bit rare, but fives almost unheard of. They had been lucky enough to find each other in pairs. First Kuroo and Kenma when they were still kids and Akaashi and Bokuto during a banquet in their teens and then at the palace when Kuroo had been named crowned prince, now king.

Royals often had multiple fated what with their livelihood, but Kuroo had been the first in the Nekoma kingdom history to have four fated connected to him. People had congratulated them when they had found each other, but whispered worries when only men showed up. Kings always had at least one female fated for an heir. But their fifth was still unknown so the people had hope. Though that all seemed out the window now, not that the people needed to know yet. Not till he was back here, safe, with them. As he should be.

“I mean Kuro had threatened him at first.”

“At first!” He quickly exclaimed in defense. “And then I dropped the sword! He shouldn’t have run away, we wouldn’t ever do anything to him.”

“To be fair, if you look at the situation from his standpoint it probably didn’t look too favorable. You know, what with trying to kill one of the king’s fated and all…” Akaashi noted. “Though it probably took a lot for him to leave with a newly awakened pairing.” 

_ Yeah and it fucking hurts _ , Kuroo thought with a frown mirrored on Kenma’s face at the comment.

Leaving the person or people you’re fated with right after meeting them was almost unheard of. The first two days were a time to form the bond that fate had set. Leaving left your body feeling off kilter and overall just wrong until you spent the required time together.

“We need to find him,” Kuroo spoke. “Talk to him, explain that he won’t be in trouble. He wouldn’t hurt us. I saw it, he couldn’t.” Bokuto shifted and rested next to Kuroo against his side. Kuroo appreciated the comfort and pulled him flush against himself.

“Keiji,” Kenma held out the abandoned dagger, “he left this behind when he left. Would you be able to find him with it?” The small note of hope in his voice made the others hold their breath,

It was helpful to have a witch among them, even if Akaashi didn’t practice much he could still do the helpful spell here and there when so desired.

With the nod of his head as he took the dagger in hand, everyone seemed to relax and wonder at the prospect of finding their final fated.

They just didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. 


	2. Gut Feelings

The familiar dinginess of smoke soaked walls and stale musk assaulted Hinata’s over sensitive nose as the worn down wooden door closed behind him. Karasuno taverns were a kind of safe haven for Weres, one or two being in each kingdom to serve as a rest point. Not that anyone but Weres knew they were Karasuno taverns, all the establishments having different names and the only indication being from the intricate iron work that held the hanging signs. A detailed system, but worked nonetheless.

The one in Nekoma, appropriately named  _ Pradus _ , was one that he visited regularly what with the upkeep in jobs he had in the kingdom with the new king in place and many seeking power under the transition, not that Hinata paid any _ real  _ attention to the royals or power-hungry humans. It was easy and steady work, that was all, and having the familiar place to come back to especially after the night he’s had was appreciated.

“You’re going to have to pay rent if you keep your face on my bar any longer, shrimp,” the annoyingly familiar monotone voice spoke across from him.

Hinata raised his head enough to now have his chin resting on the bar and look at the lanky tall blonde in front of him. All he could do was scowl at the comment. Tsukki was particular about things and annoying Hinata seemed to be one of them. 

“Fuck off Kei,” Hinata huffed. It just had to be Tsukki’s shift tonight of all nights. Why not Yama? Yama was nice to him and left any and all buttons that could be pressed alone. Tsukki was just an ass, but Hinata could ignore him. Normally. 

“Oh? Did the shrimp finally grow a backbone?” The wild dog mocked. 

“I’m not in the mood,” he sighed, frustration melting away to resignation. He wasn’t one to dwell on things, really. It made his job easy and life easier. 

The blond was the one to scowl now. He had enough of a relationship, sadly, with the ginger to know the behavior was out of place. Sure he thought he was annoying at times and annoyed him in return, but each had a mutual respect for the other most of the time. Tsukki also was one of the few that knew of Hinata’s work and just how good he was at it, having allowed some business to be done in one of the back rooms. He didn’t care much for human politics and if the shrimp was working on messing with them or knocking a few off then that was his prerogative. Let a few of them die if it means he gets left alone. 

So for the shrimp to show up at this time of night and be in the state he was, well, shit must have happened. Not that Tsukki really cared, but it was annoying to see and more annoying to have him get his face all over his bar. Shrimp germs, gross.

“What did you fuck up?” he decided to ask, promptly shoving a rag in the ginger’s face to force him to sit up and clean where his face had been. The sound of a low growl brought a smirk to the blond’s lips. 

“ _ I _ didn’t fuck up anything,” Hinata emphasized making Tsukki quirk and eyebrow, smirk falling to a line. 

After a beat of silence and knowing the blond was just standing, waiting for more of an explanation with arms now crossed, Hinata lifted his left arm. His forearm exposed with the four symbols on display; two were still giving off the very faint honey glow in comparison to the bright from earlier while two remained their neutral black.

For the first time in the past four years on knowing Tsukki, Hinata actually saw him fully express an emotion other than fiend disinterest.

“Damn.” Even the intelligent Tsukki could be surprised.

“It was the job,” he muttered. It wouldn’t hurt to talk about it now with the tavern currently empty besides the two of them and the silencing spell in place so if anyone tried to listen in from outside it wouldn’t be possible. 

“A target?” Hinata hummed as he lowered his arm back to his side. “Ouch,” Tsukki mumbled unconsciously rubbing at his collarbone where his own symbol resided. 

“Yeah, and now knowing who they are I  _ really _ can’t be coming back here,” he spoke glumly. 

Tsukki frowned. No matter the ease and lightness Hinata spoke with Weres and his lack of interest in Humans (minus the money they could give), he never created real connections. It wasn’t hard to find jaded Weres, but Hinata played it off and wouldn’t hear anything about it. Sure it made it easy for Tsukki to joke and jab at him because neither ever truly pried at the other’s life and that was appreciated, but even Tsukki didn’t like the idea of him ignoring this and from the sound of it flat out  _ running away _ .

“If you explain-” Tsukki began in a rare attempt at giving advice only to get cut off.

“-human,” Hinata all but whispered, though it didn’t really matter with either of their hearing capabilities.

“... What?”

“They were human, at least the two that I met.”

Well, that…

Tsukki didn’t know what to make of that.

It was rare for Weres and Humans to be fated. It was one of the things that made both groups think of themselves as separate. Hell, they were called  _ Weres _ and  _ Humans _ . Separate. They had different physiologies and everything. It wasn’t something either groups ever put thought into, but something both thought valid. Humans hated Weres and Weres just wanted to be left alone and it looked like Fate at least attempted to grant the latter’s wish.

“High rank, too. The one that was my target is the kingdom’s strategist. The other one, not sure, but he was at least a fighter.” Hinata didn’t pay much mind to human politics, just what jobs he got paid for. There were too many kingdoms to keep track of all the rotating people in power. Humans were fickle like that, always fighting their own. But at least it paid.

“The strategist? As in  _ Kenma _ the strategist?” Tsukki pinched the bridge of his nose.

_ Why? Why do  _ I  _ have to deal with this idiot? _ Tsukki was starting to think it was a mistake even entertaining a conversation with a shrimp. Duly noted for the future to let him just wallow in his own issues. A much better decision he mentally nodded to himself.

“Yeah? That was the name I was given,” he confirmed.

“Idiot. Kenma is one of Kuroo Tetsurou’s Fated. As in  _ King  _ Kuroo. Everyone in the kingdom knows the information.” Well, fuck. Hinata just stared at him for a moment.

“Then I’m really going to have to leave Nekoma now,” was all he finally said.

Tsukki just watched in awe for a brief second at the sheer stupidity and idiocy of the person in front of him before walking off to the back room to take a break from the headache currently sitting in his tavern.

* * *

“Kaashi!” Bokuto whined. “It’s been  _ days _ since Testu and Ken met him! It’s not fair,” he complained.

Bokuto was, by no means, a patient person when it came to certain things. One of those things being his fateds. They were meant to be his and he theirs. It hurt seeing the subtle agitation that had rooted into both Kuroo and Kenma from not being able to bond. It also hurt him that he did even  _ have  _ that hurt. It was unreasonable at best, and he was tired of waiting. 

“You know tracking magic is tricky when you only have one thing to go off and there isn’t even a name to go with it,” the raven huffed. He was skilled at handling Bokuto when he got into one of his more unpredictable moods, but that added with two less than present fateds and specific detailed magic, well… Akaashi was spread thin.

Bokuto sighed. He knew Akaashi was right. Akaashi was always right. So he settled for wrapping his arms around the other’s slender waist and pulling him close to his chest with his chin resting gently on his shoulder. Standing cuddles with Akaashi were some of the best, he had to admit.

“I know,” he mumbled, “I’m sorry. I just wanna meet him,” he breathed out with melancholy.

“I do too,” Akaashi admitted as his hands paused from wrapping twine. 

Of the four of them, Akaashi had been the most reserved in expressing his desire to meet their fifth. He loved the idea of finally feeling whole and seeing the others feel the same but something settled deep in his gut telling him it wasn’t that simple. He’d always had a six sense about certain things. He didn’t want to put any stock in doubting their fifth because it wasn’t exactly a bad feeling, but it was something and just wouldn’t shake.

The spell preparation had been a nice distraction for him, too. It kept him busy in the privacy of their room to think without being bothered by people at the palace. He secretly hated dealing with diplomatic affairs sometimes. After a while he’d prefer just to watch the old snobs run each other through, at least then it would stop their bickering. 

“What do you think he’ll be like?” Bokuto’s musing voice finally pulled Akaashi from his thoughts, his hands going back to their diligent introcat work as he hummed at the idea.

Both Kenma and Kuroo had eventually told everything about the brief encounter after calming down. Like Kenma had stated, he was deathly beautiful. It was easy to paint a picture in his mind from the fiery amber eyes with hair to match; small and lithe with moon pale skin and a delicacy about his deadly smooth movements. It was nice to imagine.

What worried him was the fact he was an assassin. People didn’t just go into work like that. There was a reason for it, and from the other parts of Kuroo and Kenma’s story, it would seem that their fifth was skilled. Very. Just caught off guard from the special situation.

It made Akaashi’s eyebrows knit together and his lip for a soft scowl at the prospect. The four of them had known each other for years now, all coming from rather well respected families making it easy for the Nekoma people to accept them as fateds even though there was yet to be a female among them. They fit together easily and ran the kingdom smoothly so far in their first year of acting rulers. So why?

Why was their fifth not the same?

Why did he have to do the work he did?

Why hadn’t he been granted the same life?

Why did he have to be alone so much longer than any of them?

It hurt thinking about it. It made that feeling in the pit of his stomach grow deeper.

“Lonely,” was finally the word that came from Akaashi’s lips to answer Bokuto’s question in barely a whisper.

But before the owl could question him, their bedroom door opened to reveal a rather unsettled Kenma, a concern in itself, and a now pacing Kuroo with a hand brushing through his hair. 

“What is it?” Akaashi questioned, fully stopping his work and placing his hands atop Bokuto’s. 

“Went to hunt down the one that hired him, who the source was.” Akaashi held off a displeased scowl. It was nice that Kuroo was putting in the effort, but he was king now and running off and doing shady work was not something he should be handling. Especially when in regards to someone hiring an assassin for one of his fateds. 

“And?” 

Kuroo just huffed at the question as he continued to pace. Another unusual habit that had developed from the past few days. His normal calm and sly suave demeanor apparently tossed out the window that night. 

“He’s a  _ messorem, _ ” Kenma mumbled from his now curled up position on the center of their bed. 

“Shit,” Bokuto uttered and Akaashi couldn’t agree more with the single word. 

He hated his gut sometimes. 


	3. Exchanges

_ Messorems  _ were a topic rarely discussed publicly and kept to conversation behind closed doors, back rooms, and alleys. They were assassins that earned their title for one reason, death count.

_ Messorems _ were reapers. There was no loyalty to their employers or dissuasion from targets. If the price was appropriate the name given on the single sheet of paper would ultimately end up on a headstone the following few days. It was a system that worked without any structure, and scarily so.

The fact someone had hired their fifth, a  _ messorem _ , to kill Kenma was telling. Kuroo hadn’t ended up finding the actual employer but a lackey with much too loud a mouth. Not uncommon, really. What employer wanted to show their face to a reaper? And with the way things turned out for Kuroo to have told him how they had learned of his arrival, well they had been lucky the man wasn’t dead yet.

“This is just becoming a bigger headache,” Kenma muttered in his soured mood.

Unlike Kuroo’s agitated state from the other’s disappearance, Kenma found himself withdrawn - more than usual. It hurt having him ripped away. He had been able to touch him and watch him in awe. He had been small, like Kenma but maybe even smaller which was a nice thought. Even if Akaashi was short in comparison to their other two, Kenma was the smallest and it was a bit frustrating at times. He liked the idea of being able to hold someone smaller than himself in his lap and have someone to cuddle the way the others cuddled him. But he left and it hurt because it wasn’t easy to catch his attention and express interest in more than mental games he played when doing work for the kingdom.

“I know, kitten,” Kuroo sighed, sitting on the bed to pull Kenma to him. 

“I want him here,” he mumbled.

“The spell is almost done,” Akaashi reassured. Kuroo hummed as he traced calming circles on Kenma’s thigh.

“What will we do when we find him?” Surprisingly, it was Bokuto to ask the question which drew everyone's eyes to him. “I’m just saying,  _ messorems _ aren't exactly known for their welcoming personalities. Sure we’re all fated to him, but what’s to stop him from just running again? I’m sure if the guys wants to be gone, he will.” 

That made the room grow thick with uncomfortable silence. None of them had brought up the issue or prospect that he might not actually  _ want  _ to stay with them. At first glance it might seem like he had just panicked in the moment, which he had, but now they all had time to process what happened and that included him. 

“We convince him,” Kuroo reasoned with a bite in his voice. The other knew he didn’t mean to take a tone, but it still hurt.

“How?” Akaashi asked blankly.

“I don’t know, I’m King and you three are prince consorts that hold power of your own. If reapers are after money then he can have a lavish life here. Convince him with treasures and luxury and then get him to stay because he actually likes us.” 

It was a half baked and shallow plan at best, but with no real information to go off of what their fifth might actually be like or want, it was probably the only option they had. 

“We’ll probably only have the one chance once the spell is activated. Once he knows we used tracking magic to find him, he’ll probably put up some barrier magic if you guys said he was also a mage.” Akaashi chimed in. He didn’t want to mention the possibility that something like that was already in place so the spell was a waste anyways. 

“Are you sure about just you and Kenma going?” Bokuto asked with a tinge of sadness. 

“You and Kuroo are both needed here and I can only teleport two other people. Kenma’s met him before and Kuroo can’t risk going depending on where we end up,” Akaashi explained again. “You’ll get to meet him, I promise,” he supplied in a softer voice. He just hoped he could fulfill the promise.

The twine covered dagger set in the center of the table atop a world’s map seemed to agree from the soft red glow that began to emanate from it. 

* * *

Hinata was pissed. 

The subtle itching below his skin had been annoying at first. Maybe his clothes, he had thought, the magic they were doused in to keep to his form,  _ any  _ form, were maybe just annoying him. It wouldn't have been the first type. Magic sticking to the body for long periods of time can be, well, annoying and irritating. 

Then the itching turned to tingling, specifically the center of his chest. And then the feeling got heavier and that’s when he was pissed.

Someone had marked him, tracked him. And he had no way to break it.

He hated tracking magic. With the right set of skills you could find anyone, including himself. And that was the exact opposite of what he wanted in life. To be found when all he wanted to be was left  _ alone _ . For good reason at that.

The minutes ticked and the anchor got stronger. He was on a backwoods trail that was a secret connected from Nekoma to Inarizaki. It wasn’t his favorite of kingdoms, but in regards to Nekoma no one would be stupid enough to follow. The two kingdoms had a rocky relationship but were civil enough that if they just ignored each other everything was fine. 

So when he felt a sudden flashing burn and then heard the sudden appearance of two heart beats behind him he thought that the people were insane. When he turned around and felt the tug at his fated markings, he knew they were insane. 

The one he had seen before, Kenma, was there again. Looking just as captivating as before and possibly more so now properly dressed and awake. His golden eyes watching Hinata with calculation and also something akin to concern,  _ funny _ , made the ginger’s heart flutter. Somehow he felt as if he was the prey of a wild cat and his was preening at the attention under the watchful gaze.  _ Mine. _

The other, though he hadn’t met him before, was also one of his fateds. Hinata felt the small tree symbol pulse with recognition.  _ Of course _ , Hinata though now realizing,  _ he was a mage _ . 

Every fated symbol has a reason for its appearance and connection to who it stands for. Hinata should have known by the odd markings that his wouldn’t be Weres given only one had to do with nature and none to do with animals. But he never wanted to put any thought into it. Stupid, really, given his line of work but it was all he could to to keep going. 

The mage also sent his heart racing. The unique ocean storm blue of his eyes and midnight hair. Taller than himself or Kenma but still lean in muscle though obviously physically capable. And Hinata can’t help but think of him as a raven with ebony feathers spread below the sun to shift to midnight blue.

If they had been Weres he could have probably been happy with them. Fate had never been kind to him though. 

“We want to talk to you,” Kenma was the first to speak, drawing Hinata’s scrutinizing gaze back to himself. “You left before we got the chance.” His voice was still soft as the first time. 

“I have nothing to say,” was his only response. It wasn’t a lie, technically. “I held a blade to your throat and failed to slit it, what is left to be said?” He asked with a head tilt.

He watched both of the attempt to suppress a shudder at the intensity of his bluntness. It was to be expected after all; he was a predator even if they didn’t know it yet. 

“But you didn’t,  _ couldn’t _ ,” Kenma reasoned after finding his voice again. 

“Sadly,” Hinata tacked. He could hear Kenma’s heart flutter in a twinge of pain. He had to keep his lips from turned down at the corners. The ginger didn't want to admit it hurt knowing he hurt the blond.

“We know you’re a reaper,” the raven spoke instead and caught his attention. 

Kuroo had said that they learned from his employer having too big a mouth about his arrival. And they had gotten back to the man before he did. Pity.

“If you just give us a chance, we can offer you security, wealth, power.” Somehow the raven had seen the minute change in him at the prospect of power.

Tsukki has been the one to plant the seed in his mind after he returned from his break that night. Humans mess with them all the time and hurt them and kill them all from jealousy and fear. He was in the perfect position as a fated of a king. He had the ability to work from the inside. Hurt those that hurt them while wearing a complacent mask. Hinata has thought the idea idiotic and decided to still leave. But now they had even go through the effort to track him, though he wasn’t sure how.

“You’d become a prince consort,” the raven explained. “You could have anything.” 

Hinata hummed at the thought, his stance and attitude relaxing. So maybe Tsukki could have some good ideas sometimes and if they were being oh so generous who was he to turn them down? Humans were stupid and greedy to the point of trusting a fated that had tried to kill one of them all for their own desire. Sure his body had been screaming at him ever since that night, but at least he had control of himself.

“Anything?” He quirked an eyebrow. 

“As long as you give us a chance,” the raven requested with an undertone plea.

“I guess that’s fair,” he agreed. “You can call me Hinata, by the way,” he finally supplied with one of his soft smiles that had taken years of practice to craft.

“Akaashi,” the raven breathed in a sigh of relief.

All the while Kenma remained quiet watching the exchange.


	4. Bears and Books

Being teleported back to the palace had been...odd. Hinata wasn’t a fan of physical contact, but the magic required it and feeling Akaashi’s skin brush and rest against his left an unsettling pleasantness buzzing over the spot. He knew the attraction and attachment fateds feel for each other and was the reason some refused to be with anyone  _ but _ their fated no matter how little the possibility of meeting them actually was. 

Hinata had been able to resist the urge to stay that first meeting and now it seemed like his body was testing his limits on just how much he could resist. It wasn’t a sexual desire by any means; instead, it made him feel safe and warm and protected. 

It was all  _ wrong _ .

He protected himself and didn’t need anything or anyone else. 

Certainly not  _ them. _

It was only more jarring when they appeared in a rather spacious stone wall room covered with delicate tapestry and trinkets. A rather large bookcase towards the seating area in front of the grand fireplace that, if so desired, he was sure he could walk into without having to bend down. His stomach turned and anger boiled beneath his skin at the sight of the animal pelts on the ground used as nothing more than to put their disgusting feet on if they even had the consideration to take off their shoes. Pelts were sacred to Weres and they just laid them down to be used as nothing more than extravagance in their cold stone cage.

Weres were by no means vegetarian, most not being able to live off of the diet. But it was respected among their people (at least by the respectable ones) that animals that also had some sort of Were lineage were left off limits for kills and food. Most left for consumption were small game such as chickens, some rodents and select birds, and most any aquatic animal. Hinata himself loved seafood specifically.

So to see what he could only guess was a bear pelt from the fur type, size, and color, infuriated him. Bears were kind and gentle and only attacked when threatened but who wouldn’t? Humans attacked for less.

“Hinata?” It was Akaashi to pull him from his anger fueled thoughts.

He tore his gaze away from the pelt and looked up at the mage. He noted the mildly concerned looked in his eyes and didn’t miss the way Kenma had been watching him when he turned his attention back to eye level.

“Hinata?” an unfamiliar voice asked aloud as if testing his name.

He had been too distracted by the décor of the room and too mad about its cushioning to notice the other two in the room. Another thing he was starting to gather about his fateds were they threw all of his years of skilled training out the window and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself from someone with a spoon at this rate. 

Still, he turned his gaze to the voice and realized that he was really starting to question if the others actually  _ were _ human. The man was all muscles in a way that actually made Hinata mildly jealous. But his face and hair only made Hinata think of an owl, especially his bright gold eyes that seemed to have a sort of hyper focus with the way he was looking at the small Were. Once he settled on him he knew the fourth piece had finally clicked in from the familiar feeling in his arm of his final fated mark of a laurel wreath lighting the same golden glow.

“I’m Bokuto Koutarou!” the owl exclaimed in excitement. 

Hinata has to stop himself from taking a retreating step back when the other took one forward. Thankfully, Kuroo, he believed, caught Bokuto’s arm and paused the action. He only had limited knowledge of the palace from what had been pertinent to his business and didn’t feel like getting lost in the place at the moment in his escape attempt.

“I’m happy you decided to come back,” Kuroo spoke in a kind tone.

Hell he wished Kuroo would pick back up the snarky slyness that had dripped in his voice before they actually knew who they were to each other. At least that voice made sense with his appearance and Hinata knew how to handle that attitude. He put up with Tsukki for years, he was trained well.

“I’m Kuroo Tetsuro, by the way. Figured we should at least have a formal introduction,” he spoke with pleasantness and extended his hand across the much too large space that would require Hinata to actually take a step forward or two if he wanted to reciprocate the gesture. He didn’t and stayed firmly rooted next to Akaashi as it was as good a place at any to be in the situation. After a moment Kuroo got the message and let his hand fall. He didn’t seem annoyed by the refusal, but he did seem a bit disappointed.

_ But why should I care?  _ Hinata thought when he let the matter linger in his mind longer than necessary.

“I’m not sure how much Keiji or Ken explained to you,” Kuroo began,” or how much you know about us and who we are, but we want you to give us a chance.” Hinata only nodded. “We know that you were a  _ messorem  _ and that you might have run because of the circumstances under which we met,”  _ yeah no shit _ , “but we do want to work to get to know you, if you’ll have us?” 

Hinata thought about how everything could go in his mind. He already agreed to come back here with Akaashi more or less to avoid another spell and them being a pain in the ass. Plus the idea of messing with Humans for personal pleasure was something he had never attempted and if fate was going to make him stuck with not one but  _ four _ then he figured it was only fair. Humans made him suffer so why couldn’t he make them feel the same? Sure he couldn’t physically maim any of the four here, but that didn’t mean he couldn't cause problems and disrupt their happy little lives in the big palace that treated others as pawns as if the outside world was nothing more than a game of chess and other kingdoms were nothing more than that boards opponent.

But for now he had to tread lightly, test how much faith they would put in their fated and how much he could get away with. And that started with building a rapport, even if he didn't want to.

“I didn’t know who Kenma was when I took the job. Just knew he was a strategist and some nights he stayed in that room and others he didn’t,” he explained with a turned away gaze. “I don’t do royalty or politics, I just work what job people brave or stupid enough with too much money are willing to get me for.” A simple way to put it and not a complete lie. “But just to be clear,” he stated, now turning to look at both Kuroo and Bokuto, “Akaashi said I could have anything in coming here and I thought that might be fun as long as I give you four a chance. I accepted and respect that you all want to get to know me, but I also expect not to be pressured into,” Hinata waved his hands at the over extravagant room (at least in his terms), “this and be allowed to at least have my space and freedom.” 

Kuroo just nodded, seeming to have expected something of the sort from his reaction.

“That’s fair. I didn’t expect you to want to stay in the main room the first night out. Each pf us have our own individual rooms, like the one you found Kenma in, and we stay in them when we want a night’s sleep without being waking up to a mass of sprawled limbs.” Kuroo cracked a smile at whatever he was picturing. And it sounded reasonable to Hinata. Constantly sharing a room with three, now four, other people would be exhausting for anyone. “And we’ve, ah, had a room prepared for you.”

Hinata raised a brow. Just how confident were they that he’d come back with them?

“I am, not you specifically, technically. We had a room prepared for our fifth, whenever they would arrive, and that’s you. So you have a room,.” Hinata actually had to suppress a smile at the faint blush that blossomed on the King’s cheeks.  _ Hinata _ suppressed a  _ smile _ . It made him uncomfortable. 

“You can decorate it however you want!” Bokuto chimed. 

Hinata only hummed. He didn’t know how he felt about having his own room. He hadn’t had his own room since  _ then _ and he didn’t like the fact that the first one he now has in years is in a castle, with his fateds, and he can’t exactly turn it down. He didn’t want to think about it.

“We could show you around the palace to start, if you’d like?” Kenma was the one to offer. The blond was too observant of him. “Or just one or two of us, instead? Less overwhelming?” It was an enticing offer.

* * *

The palace was, unsurprisingly, large and annoying, in Hinata’s opinion. 

The place had endless servants, all of who watched the small ginger in rather unique looking clothing that wasn’t noble but not identifiable as peasant either. Their eyes seemed to follow like curious magnets as to how the boy could be that was walking next to Kenma. No one ever attempted to ask, though. They knew better than to pry at one of the King’s fated’s business, or just try to approach Kenma in general from past experiences. But some caught on to the subtle stolen glances that Kenma took when the ginger wasn’t looking. Looks that he stole when with the other three.

Kenma however, had his sole focus on the man next to him. 

Since he and Akaashi had convinced Hinata to come back Kenma felt unsettled. The mannerisms that Hinata showed in accepting Akaashi’s offer for seemingly mutual benefit. The smile still played in his mind. It was the only one so far he had given and even it was questionable. Being a noble in society came with certain understandings and recognitions; like when smiles were given with a purpose and served as nothing more than a means of achievement. Expressions could convey a lot in their world.

The bear pelt that had been in their shared room for as long as Kenma could remember also was bothering him. He had noticed how Hinata had made the smallest of frowns at the thing with thoughts running behind his eyes. And Kenma didn’t like that he didn’t know  _ why _ and it bothered him. Of all the things that he could put together with what few facts he had about the petite boy left him with things that he had tried to convince himself were possible.

The five of them all shared the same marks except for their own. He had always been curious about the one that he now knew belonged to Hinata. His grouping of marks were conveniently placed going down the left side of his rib cage. It made it private and only for each other's eyes. 

Hinata’s mark seemed to be a circle...of sorts. It was formed awkwardly and uneven and after who knows how many years he has spent looking at the thing, he could never make sense of what object it was. Marks were always an object that related to the person it belonged to.

Kenma learned his was a scale of justice, but he viewed it more as one of balance. It served has the physical representation of his role as strategist and the balance of power the kingdom had in comparison to others.

Kuroo’s was an hourglass. It was a symbol that holds many meanings such as power and time, or with pirates a means to strike fear in those that see their flag, or used for coffins in a person’s passing. It was important and he was living up to it. He had only just been king a short while and he had already made a name for himself no matter how much others loathed him for it.

Akaashi’s was a tree. Easy enough with his skills as a natural mage (even if he doesn’t practice all that often). It was his connection to the world and common for mages to have some sort of natural mark.

Bokuto’s was a laurel wreath. Victory. Besides prince consort, he was leader of Nekoma’s army and had never once lost in battle or a duel even at his young age. He was praised and respected for his feats in skill to execute Kenma’s tactics.

That’s why Hinata’s was so frustrating. Kenma had no basis for it.And when he had gone n search in the royal library as to what it could mean it left him fearful. Not of who the mark belonged to, but what might happen to the person. It was a rare phenomena and if it proved to be true he didn’t know what the kingdom would think. The people and some of the nobles had been respectful and happy about Akaashi, Bokuto, and Kenma with Kuroo as most of the kingdoms respected fateds and marks. But a Were.That was different and it was the only thing he could track the mark to.

No many humans favored Weres. They were seen as magic gone wrong. They were beastly, inhuman. They were different and for it had been hunted down for centuries. No one knew how many Weres were left. Their lands had been destroyed and absorbed into whichever kingdom it resided it. They mostly passed for human and it was hard to tell they were different unless they said or were seen shifting. They had acclimated to the society that destroyed them for preservation.

Kenma never understood it. The world was full of magic, mages, and soul connections through fated marks. Why were Weres different? There wasn’t anything wrong with them in his opinion.

But Kenma never brought any of this up to the other three. The others knew he had gone into researching about the mark, but he just shrugged off their questions about. They seemed skeptical, but Kenma had taken the rare few books that spoke about it and hid them in his private room that the others couldn’t enter without permission. He thought it was better to wait and now it was time to see if his worries were warranted.

So the bear pelt left him unsettled but he didn’t know  _ why _ , and it hurt to think about.

“What are you thinking about?” Kenma finally asked.

“The place is stuffy,” was the simple response he got. It made him crack a small smile. He himself didn’t like walking around the class, really, but he had found himself happy that Hinata had decided to go with him out of everyone. Bokuto looked like a kicked puppy at the decision.

“Why’d you take Akaashi’s offer?” It was weird being the one asking questions. He was much more a listener in conversations.

“Reasons,” Hinata shrugged and shifted his wandering gaze back to Kenma, “and I didn’t want you guys tracking me again. Feels all itchy,” he added with a small scowl at the memory.

Kenma hummed. He didn’t realize magic could be described as itchy or a feeling at all. 

“How’d Akaashi manage it anyways? He didn’t have my name or anything of mine or even see me.” Hinata was still upset about it. It shouldn’t have been possible.

“The dagger,” Kenma responded easily. There was no point keeping it secret. Hinata’s eyes widened at that. It was nice seeing a real reaction from the ginger. It made him seem real, somehow.

“Well damn.” And it was left at that and their walk continued with Kenma making small notes of things and Hinata just observing everything with his large, bright, and indecipherable eyes.


End file.
